“Sicko” — Did Michael Moore Get It Right? A Comparison of Emergency Rooms on Two Continents

[helderheid]

Michael Moore made a splash with his documentary, “Sicko,” about the disarray of the American health care system.

Three weeks ago, an American woman executive in her early sixties—let’s call her Joyce—needed to see a doctor fairly late at night in the little town of Füssen, Germany. My wife, Peggy, and I went with her to the emergency room of the local hospital.

It turned out that earlier in the year, Joyce had the very same symptoms during a business trip to the Midwest and went to the emergency room of one of the biggest hospitals in Omaha.

The comparison of how Joyce was treated in these two health care facilities for exactly the same illness is eye-opening.

Lots more...

http://www.businesscommonsense.com/story/story_singlepg.bsp?sid=84369&var=story

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. That URL triggers my Spider Sense. -nt

[helderheid]

3. I thought it was facinating it came from them!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. OK. me.face.apply(pie); it seems I underestimated the power of sheer facts. -nt

[porphyrian]

2. Apparently so. -n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. They are starting to figure it out

Thank God for Michael Moore. They may hate him but he definitely tells the truth.

[Tejas]

8. no, maybe MM finally figured truth is better than fictional BS

Ignoring inner-city social/cultural problems that are 99% of the problem when it comes to crime does not "the truth" make. That said, he's lucky he wasn't hit by a lightning bolt from the heavens for ignoring the core problems in this country in the making of Bowling for Columbine.

[marmar]

10. "hit by a lightning bolt ... for ignoring the core problems in ... Bowling for Columbine?"

:shrug:

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. I know

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I disagree

It's not Michael Moore's responsibility to address core problems in this country.

[Tejas]

24. you'd probably say it isn't the MSM's job to tell the truth, good luck with that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. When did Michael Moore join the MSM???

He's a film maker.

Hello!!????


:rofl:

[lame54]

22. are you saying "Guns don't kill people...

inner city residents do."?

[Tejas]

25. knives don't kill people either

Good luck with the same old tired argument of blaming inanimate objects.

[Jim__]

6. You can't really judge from a sample of one.

But, in my experience, American health care sucks. I see a "doctor" about every 3 months. Or, rather, I visit a doctor's office about every 3 months. I haven't seen a doctor in 2 years. I see a PA. That's OK, but, it seems like I should see the doctor at least once a year. I can schedule an appointment with the doctor, but it's 4 months to see an actual doctor. I can usually see the PA within a day or 2.

I haven't been to an emergency room in years. But my recollection is very similar to the one in the story. Sit and wait for hours and hours.

[HughMoran]

7. You just reminded me why I suffer even though I have medical insurance

I just hate the feeling I get and the long waits don't work for someone like me who has very high anxiety levels naturally. The cure is worse than the symptoms in my mind.

[fascisthunter]

9. Socialism Works Much Better Thatn The Market

when it comes to providing services that are necessary to life itself. Corporations don't give a damn about you, me or anybody else. Would you hire a sociopath to take care of your grandmother?

[killbotfactory]

17. But socialism is horrible at making obscenely rich people richer

Therefor it's "inefficient". If you value your life, you don't get in the way of a rich person and his money.

Much better to have a bunch of private companies who are, by law, forced to put shareholder profit above every other consideration.

</sarcasm>

[librechik]

12. BTW, Denny--Cipro is an antibiotic, not a painkiller

"maybe" Michael Moore was right?

When will the Business World wake up to the fact that universal healthcare could help their bottom line?

What morons.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. Exactly!

When will the Business World wake up to the fact that universal healthcare could help their bottom line? Pretty simple, isn't it?

[Captain Angry]

14. I call BULL!!!

They chose that continent to make us look bad.

We are WAY better than Antarctica.

Stupid biased articles...











:-)

[marmar]

15. Exactly....Antarctica can't even keep its ice from melting.

:)

[helderheid]

21. !!

:spray: :rofl:

[helderheid]

20. !

:spray:

[killbotfactory]

16. Health insurance companies are run by criminals

The kind of shenanigans they pull on sick people to avoid paying claims is disgusting, as well as all the "pre-existing condition" bullcrap.

Moore is completely right.

[Cleita]

18. I've been documenting our failing health care system and the

rise of the health care industry as a hot stock market commodity for almost twenty five years now. How come people are just becoming aware of it? I have also noticed the lack of availibility of Michael Moore's "Sicko" in places that show movies and sell videos. When Mel Gibson's "The Passion" was released in video, I was tripping over displays for it in almost every store I went in. I have actually been looking for "Sicko" in those same stores and they don't seem to stock it. Hmmm! Could the for profit health care and PHARMA industries have anything to do about this? I finally caught it on pay-per-view where it ran briefly this month.

[IronLionZion]

19. ERs in this country are clogged up

because of various reasons. one reason is that there's nowhere else to go when the doctor's office is closed. another is that many family doctors or general practitioners don't want to do more than checkups and will just send you to the ER. Many uninsured folks will go to the ER because they have to treat you...eventually. Just because they send a bill, doesn't mean the patient will pay for it. ER debt is not like bank debt. They'll just overbill someone else's insurance and medicare.

And don't get me started on malpractice insurance, which is around $100,000 a year for an average ER doc. Yep, somebody's insurance pays for that.

Yes, the pharma companies are ripping us off too for those meds. The hospital should have a pharmacy.

[DCKit]

26. Perhaps it's because so few can afford preventative care....

and wait until they're in dire straits before going at all.

Too many people in this country are terrified of getting sick because they realize it's too often the first step toward poverty, if not homelessness.

On another note, what for-profit business is going to bother to maintain adequate staffing when their clientele is a captive audience with no recourse?

I too recently watched Sicko. While MM may have conflated a good bit, the interviews with them ferners who enjoy universal health care, as well as the expats and the doctors who work within the system, couldn't have been more genuine. Try taking it away and you'll get your arm bitten off at the shoulder.

As I see it, the argument boils down to a simple premise: Insurance companies make insane profit by denying the maximum number of procedures and running the clock until their customers either give up or die. Remove the profit and greed from the system by nationalizing the system and people get preventative care before they need catastrophic procedures. It's simple, but anathema to the for-profit health care industry and the politicians they buy to protect them.

[walldude]

28. Anyone who tells you the Health Care system in the US works

needs to talk to me.. Can't get insurance, wife and 2 of my kids have pre-existing conditions. Medicare got canceled this year because now I make too much money. I have no way to insure my family. I have tried, DU'ers have made suggestions but to no avail. The best I can get is catastrophic coverage. A few weeks ago my son had strep, I took him to his pediatrician and they wanted to give him a shot of anti-biotics but since I had no health insurance they had to have cash. No cash.. no shot, and this was his pediatrician for 9 years.. Luckily I had the cash for the $200 shot..

[reggie the dog]

29. you would have paid

between 1 and 5 euro for that here in France

[helderheid]

30. oh man.